blessing – Page 5 – Alaska Bible Teacher

The Brother and 5080.4 Miles

²¹“So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything.

²²I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”

Ephesians 5:21-22

There is so much here that communicates Paul’s heart. He’s laid out a ton of theology, and now he ends his heavy letter with this final benediction or blessing. These final verses are not doctrine. Instead they’re more like God’s ‘open window’ directly to the Ephesian’s heart.

Just imagine yourself as a believer living in Ephesus. Reading the letter we should see ourselves there (albeit 2000 years removed). This belongs to you as much as it belonged to the churches in Asia Minor. Please, own it.

You need to see this. It changes our walk from the 1st century to the 21st century.

This letter belongs to you personally. Ephesians is your letter from ‘home.’ So dear one, make it yours, for you are the Holy Spirit’s audience, and you’re very much loved!

Tychicus has been chosen to carry this letter 5,000 miles to the Ephesians.

The journey itself was over 5,000 miles from Rome to Ephesus, walking by Roman roads. (It would be a long trip, longer than walking from San Francisco to Boston!) It was difficult and could be dangerous, but the letter Titus carried was important. It would be painstakingly copied and then sent to all the churches in Asia Minor.

“Travelers journeyed in convoy, sometimes hiring soldiers to protect them from robbers who preyed on the unsuspecting. Roman roads made things somewhat easier but still, walking, perhaps hiring a donkey or paying for passage on a merchant’s ship. Travel was for the brave and the strong.”

(https://cloudofwitnesses.org.uk/studies/tychicus)

Tychicus is mentioned 6 times in the NT.

He was a gospel ‘veteran’ who ministered with Paul in various places in the Roman empire. It appears he was friends with Timothy, who was the young pastor of the church in Ephesus. Tychicus was someone whom Paul trusted implicitly. After all, he was carrying Paul’s heart in his backpack.

Tychicus was 100% loyal, brave, and completely reliable. I think Paul had confidence that he would do everything necessary to make sure this letter would get through. We find he was able to do this. And you and I, well, we owe a spiritual debt to this faithful man who went the distance for us.

We can skim through this passage and never really see Tychicus at all.

Tychicus seems to have no real preaching ability, but he is called “beloved” and “faithful” in verse 21. In verse 22 he is called a “brother” and a “minister.” That word for minister is διάκονος, deacon and it means “a servant of a king” or a “waiter of tables.” I believe that reveals someone who is a minister to the needy (which is no small thing).

Paul closes his letter with a benediction.

In verses 23-24, we read that the blessing is given to the church. He pronounces “peace, love, and faith.” Paul speaks out of God’s heart to the Ephesians, and as a leader, he is conveying God’s own blessing. A proper benediction that originates from the Lord is hardly just a nicety, something free and easy. You must understand, a pastor’s blessing is powerful.

“Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”

(verse 24)

The Real Glory of the Real Jesus

Mark 9:2-8, ESV

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵“And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.”

^“And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” ⁸And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.”

I could go a hundred different ways with this passage. After much thought (disorganized most of the time) I’ve decided to go with the following. I know deep down how deficient it is, and I know you have much to add to it, which is very good.

But what I do understand I give to you.

The more I try to process Mark 9 the more I see things that are wildly significant. What happened there was radical, and I realize that I still don’t have a solid grip on it, and if I did I know deep down it’d change my life.

James, John, and Peter. Why these three? Some have suggested that these particular disciples were the ones who desperately needed to see what was going to happen. That’s very possible. Perhaps they were the weakest, and maybe they needed to see the real Jesus in His glory. My personal view is that these three wrote books, epistles. Maybe Jesus understood this, and gave them this earth-shaking experience?
The impact on Peter was profound. “”For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him, I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16-18).
Toward the end of Peter’s life he couldn’t shake the Transfiguration and what he witnessed there. He recalled the “glory” but it seems it was the voice that was the most profound. It was that voice that completely altered his life and ministry. (Notice that he mentions it twice in verse 18.)
The Greek word for “transfigured” is metamorphosis. (Like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon.) Jesus wasn’t put in some spiritual “spotlight,” rather the glory that was seen was coming from inside Him. We see that He was God and Jesus revealed Himself clearly as God. The three disciples who were witnesses seem to struggle with exactly what took place. They use human analogies and images to try to explain to us what they saw.
The word “terrified” is the word phobia. Could it be that our encounter with God could go to that extreme? Could we be that we could be terrified in His presence? Does that fit into our theology? You need to decide if it’s significant or not.
And what about Moses and Elijah? Most feel that each represented the Law and the Prophets. I must point out that both had ministered from the top of mountains before? But notice, even though Jesus emanated extreme glory, these two did not. Also, the arrival of these two reinforces the real world of life after death. Both Moses and Elijah were very much alive!
The “human” part of Jesus was temporarily set aside. We know that Jesus was fully man, but here we see Him as He really is–fully and completely God. What a revelation! The three disciples were profoundly touched. Seeing the power and glory of the Creator of the universe on the top of the mountain altered their lives and changed their ministry.
John would write his Gospel and three letters. James wrote the first book in the NT. Peter is credited with the Gospel of Mark and his two books. They “knew” exactly who Jesus was! They had become fully convinced and needed no theological explanation. They finally understood!

So much more should be considered.

What I’ve written today is so incomplete–I feel a little foolish putting this down in this post. But yet I’m actively praying for you that this might add to your understanding. The Transfiguration is profound. It certainly needs to be internally processed by every real believer. And for those who don’t know Jesus yet, I hope you can understand exactly who He is to us who believe.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:1-4, NIV

God’s Word is Not a Cudgel

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Ephesians 4:29, ESV

In the spring of 1987 I was working with SOS Ministries in San Francisco. Our ministry house was on Sycamore in the Mission, a really rough place. There was ten of us and we were committed ourselves to street evangelism throughout the city. When I wasn’t on the street our in-house writing/printing took up a lot my time.

Vicky was our ministry secretary. She was young, outgoing, smart and a very good administrator. She was a whiz taking care of the office–and us. She was a vital part of the house. She was pretty much irreplacable.

Sometimes though we would clash, but never in a bad way.

But after time it seemed all I could only hear from her was criticism. And I began to get really angry. Our relationship grew testy over time and things began to fester inside of me. It’s funny, but now it was inconsquential.

But one day there was one of those moments I would regret even now after all these years. I had misconstrued that she was criticizing me. Whenever I was in the office it seemed she had it in for me.

I decided I must correct her. I believed she was way out of line it was up to me to set her straight.

“Vicky, I have a word for you, from God! Read Judges 16:16.“

“And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.”

As she grabbed her Bible and read the verse I could see the tears well up in her eyes. And I had used the Word of God like a cudgel, beating her with a billy club. I had bludgeoned her with a Bible verse.

What can I say? The memory of doing that has always stuck with me. I had wounded her spirit intentionally. Now the Father has forgiven me, I know that–but the lesson I learned has stuck with me through 30 years of ministering God’s Word.

“People who think they are religious but say things they should not say are just fooling themselves. Their “religion” is worth nothing.”

James 1:26, NCV

This quote drives this home:

“Five, or six, ten people shall be made temporarily wretched because one person, unconsciously perhaps, yet supremely, egotistic and selfish, has never learned to control his disposition and bridle his tongue.”

James H. Aughey

I really must warn you, if you’re hurting your brothers and sisters by speaking foolishness, the Father will deal with you. Sometimes harshly. Now there is definitely room to correct, but I suggest for every second of time you speak, you need to spend twenty minutes in real prayer, for them and for yourself.

You don’t discern to expose sin. You discern to pray and intercede. I think this is a good “rule of thumb” for us all.

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